The Tale of Winter
by Fher34
Summary: She's the Winter cold; icy, overwhelming, beautiful. SasuHina. 7.9.19. Dedicated to Goatville on Tumblr!


**A/N**: Dedicated to **goatville **! Girl, here's the third and last gift! I hope you like this. I'm fond of Japanese winter tales, so I decided to based one on Yuki-Onna (in some stories she was a Moon Princess. Sounds familiar?).

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**The Tale of Winter**

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"_Ne, Father. Tell me that story."_

"_...It's past your bedtime."_

"_But it's my favorite!"_

"_It's__ also long."_

"_But you like it too, don't you?"_

"_..."  
_"_...if you're tired, I can call Mother-"_

_Sigh. "Then, listen closely."_

**.**

"..._Are you lost, human child_?"

The first time Winter speaks to him, he's six years old.

Despite his age, he's heard the terrifying tales that circulate his village.

After all, what child whose parents wish to discipline hasn't been warned about the seasonal prowlings of the eerie-eyed Winter with hair that coils and twists around her body like venomous snakes?

So, he's aware that an encounter with the grim specter is likely to occur in the last grey days of the year; days in which gods and demons alike tend to descend from the mountain tops.

Winter is no different from them. She's a creature of legends, cursed and dreadful and cold and dead and alone and impossibly ancient.

And now...now she stands before him, regarding him with the rumored abnormal eyes and speaking in a gentle way that belies her wicked nature. He averts his gaze quickly, lips pursed tight, body shaking and mind in a confused haze because…

Doesn't she dwell in the most reclusive areas of the forest, (the regions his mother has forbid him to approach, even in summer) concealed during the day but ever-present throughout snowy nights?

It is certainly snowing, but it's slight, and night had yet to reach him.

So _why_...? _How is she here…_? Had he truly wandered so far into the woods he inadvertently invaded her territory?

Winter doesn't give him the time to puzzle it out. The moment it takes for the turmoil to brew in his mind, she's already talking. She's gotten closer.

From his spot under a snow-covered tree, Sasuke shivers. From cold or fear, he can't decide. He can't think.

"_Are you lost, human child_?" she repeats, and her voice is quiet like a whisper but impossible not to hear. It echoes all around in soft murmurs, as if coming from the very snowflakes themselves. Sasuke has never heard anything like it, and doubts he ever will.

Those that cross her path rarely live to tell and Sasuke isn't naive enough to believe he can escape. Not when her icy stare is said to kill on the spot. Of the few people who return, none are children or men; not a single youth below the age of 15 has ever managed to return. It's whispered that Winter's heart is as cold as the unmelted ice of the seasons and no mercy is offered when encountered.

That particular notion has been hammered into Sasuke's head by a concerned Itachi behind their parents' back, among other things. His brother's words are perhaps why, when the icy being speaks, Sasuke -unlike hundreds or even thousands before him- finally gives an answer.

He nods, trembling but doing his best to be respectful. He may not be able to do a reverence right now (his legs have long ago fallen asleep) but he'll do what he can.

After all, he doesn't wish to die. He may have no hope, but if he's going to be killed, then he'll do so following his brother's advice.

His older brother had emphasized, that if he ever ran into Winter, to be polite, and to not disrespect her in any way. Little Sasuke doesn't trust his voice, nor the rebellious mannerism he knows he possesses, so he keeps silent lest he angers Winter the way he angers his father.

"_I see_," says Winter and steps forward, the sound of crushing snow underneath her feet utterly absent.

Sasuke, this time disobeying every caution in the name of curiosity, finally raises his head, gradually looking up. What he sees makes him gasp. Not in panic, not in fear, but in absolute astonishment, for the creature before him is surreal, ethereal in the most bone-chilling manner imaginable.

Even his brother's abundant descriptions are humble in comparison to the authentic.

Skin so white it's translucent. Sasuke swears he can tell where one vein begins and where it ends even in the dimming light of dusk. Millions of diminutive crystals seem to make the small face that watches him keenly. Her hair is so black it puts the darkening sky to shame. Unblinking eyes of the shiniest violet regard him steadily. Her lips, so blue they border on navy, are parted, and Sasuke is surprised to see a cloud of white emit when she breathes.

What an inhuman vision.

What a crystalline, cursed being.

Sasuke, despite his Uchiha lineage, is but a young boy running away from home in a tantrum. He isn't prepared to fight her dangerous or enthralling nature, especially when her eyes (pools of endless purple) enrapture his own. The warrior blood that runs in his veins comes to a standstill.

Winter observes him with reluctant curiosity, as if she can't help it. As if he is something -someone- utterly fascinating. She has kneeled to his level, to make the action of speaking easier on him or her, he doesn't know nor dares to ask.

All he knows is that suddenly, she's there, appreciating him with a sharpness no one bestows upon him in the village, for he isn't his talented older brother.

Her predatory essence does nothing to lessen that captivating frosty beauty.

From such a close distance, he can tell her eyelashes are long and dark, contrasting heavily with the violaceous shade of her iris. The black cloth that embraces her body is not a tattered coat as he'd previously assumed, but long locks of hair. The cold doesn't bother her, although she's bare. She remains tranquil, not a quiver running through her body.

Unearthly.

Bewitching.

Frigid.

"_What is the name you answer to, child_?" the creature prompts, a glacial hand brushing a tuft of his hair to the side.

He's startled by the motion and hesitates, but she watches him with such an earnest, almost harmless expression he succeeds in stuttering a reply. "Sa-Sasuke."

"_Sasuke_," she tries the name and finds it satisfactory, for she hums in approval. "_An appropriate name. Why have you wandered into the woodlands, Sasuke?_" She tilts her head to the side, heavy tresses following. "_Don't you know how dangerous they are_?"

Of all the things he expects, a lecture isn't one of them. He's deeply perplexed by this turn of events.

"_You must leave this forest, and avoid looking back when you do,_" she continues when he remains speechless. "_Tell me, do you know the way to your hearth?_"

With difficulty, he swallows and shakes his head.

His mouth is stiff, frozen with Winter's nearness. He's tired and sleepy and has been lost in the lands covered in white since morning. Yet, his will to live is currently stronger than the frozen landscape. But for how long remains a pressing matter.

"_Then, if you so wish, I will show you_," says Winter. She stands, and despite not being the tallest of women, her mere presence is notably more terrifying.

Sasuke stares in reluctant awe. He may be a child, but he's not easily impressed. However, this...this nocturnal creature is surely the most striking of all.

The fact she knows where his village is located should raise a red flag. It should...but Sasuke's senses aren't as sharp as he wishes them to be at the moment.

Thus, a sudden question escapes his trembling lips before he can think it through.

"Can I...really return? Will...w-will it be okay? I, I ran away!"

How to face his father, how to apologize to his mother? Sasuke's pride is large in comparison to his body and asking for forgiveness has always been a difficult process.

He's unsure whether he expected an answer, but Winter seems pensive as if honestly weighing her response. "_You ran away,_" she ends up quoting. "_Why_?"

If his cheeks could blush, they would. But he's been out in the wilderness for too long and his body is but human. He perceives that his muscles have locked and that his thoughts are becoming hazy, his eyes growing heavier and heavier.

"_Don't you wish to return home_?" Winter whispers. For some reason, her voice sounds unexpectedly pained.

His muscles may not respond, and his lips can barely open, but the childish, pure tears of a boy that is scared and cold and hungry and lost are enough of an answer for the evanescent nightwalker.

A breath leaves her chest, forming a cold mist that descends onto him as if to enclose him with an icy blanket.

"_I see. Then...return. Sasuke._"

**XXX**

**.**

When his eyes open, the cold has dispersed. The snow has vanished.

Winter is no longer with him.

In her place are the warmth of thick quilts and a familiar wooden ceiling.

_I'm back_, he thinks and finds the thought far-fetched.

He...really made it? Winter hadn't eaten him. Why…?

For a silent moment, he's overwhelmed with emotions his little body has yet to learn how to process.

Before his tears have the time to burst, a mournful voice meets his ears. "Sasuke?"

His mother is at the threshold, her eyes wide and red-rimmed.

It's obvious she's been crying and his chest clenches in guilt.

"Mo-Mother," he barely has time to rasp before she's there, hugging him to her bosom tightly.

"My dear child! Do you have any idea how _worried_ I was?!"

He has no chance to formulate a reply. His mother is there and he's home in one piece and Winter hasn't hurt him. His father's anger doesn't matter anymore, nor his stubborn pride.

It has no place in the relief he feels at being safe.

Six-year-old Sasuke closes his eyes, returns his mother's hug, and swears not to forget the cold creature that has shown him mercy.

**XXX**

**.**

Two slow and long decades pass before he sees her again.

Despite the years, he has never forgotten her. The snow of December and the dark shadows of the woods are heavy reminders of Winter's existence.

Sasuke has grown to be good at remembering. It makes sense, he thinks, since his clan was wiped out by disease and the only thing that can prove the houses in his village once had owners is his own persistent memory.

Unlike the first time, the second time he encounters her is on purpose.

He has searched for her far and wide, meeting other malevolent creatures along the mountain path that seek his Uchiha blood. After all, drinking the blood of a warrior is no easy feat and it brings its rewards. At this point, he doesn't mind to hunt or be hunted. He's used to it and switches between roles effortlessly.

One of the first things he was taught as a child was to defend himself against danger. It didn't always work, and he bears the scars that show it, but he has made it to age twenty-six. In comparison to the other children in his village, he's done significantly better.

He finally finds her in a small clearing on a moonlit night.

Her hair is still long and black, her eyes are the same purple frosted glass he once ventured to look into, and her skin is that frightening white shade no human can possibly possess.

Although he's seen her once before and knows what to expect of her appearance, the shocking realization that this creature is stunningly beautiful hurts him physically. Now that he's no longer a child, the fascination that he once had morphs with something else. Something he fears to name lest it becomes too real.

Because...there was no way he could possibly want her the way a husband desires a wife.

Her amethyst eyes observe him in that curious manner she did once. Her azure lips part. A single name dusted with doubt escapes. "_Sasuke_..?"

It can't be helped if she doesn't recognize him, that's what he had thought. But although there's a question in her tone, she has managed to name him correctly. He can't ask for more.

_Winter_, he wants to call out, but refrains.

'Winter' is but a title given to the ethereal creature by the villagers. It occurs to him that no one knows her real name, or if she possesses one at all.

With a dry mouth, he affirms, "It is I," and stays in place, waiting for her to approach.

She doesn't. Instead, her stare holds his, as if puzzling something incomprehensible.

Finally, she speaks. "_How long...how long has it been_? _Since that day_?"

Her sudden inquiry surprises him. He knows that this creature is everything but predictable, he knows it and yet...she doesn't cease to shock him.

"It's been twenty years," he discloses, his voice lower than anticipated. So much has happened in twenty years and the nostalgia he has kept locked rears its miserable head.

"_Twenty_ _years_," she echoes, and some of that constant confusion seems to fade. "_You have truly_… _grown…_"

"And you've stayed the same," he finishes for her, stepping closer.

Searching for her was a whimsical urge, one that filled him with temporary purpose after the demise of his clan and family. What he'd do after finding her was a complete mystery, but Sasuke thought that if she decided to finally kill him by freezing his already arctic being, then so be it.

Death at her hands didn't sound bad.

It didn't then, and it doesn't now.

"_Did you make it home?_" she asks.

A shadow of loss falls over his eyes. "I did."

Those violet orbs he can't look away from soften unimaginably. "_I see. I'm glad._"

He wonders, then, about her reaction towards the news of the calamity that has befallen his loved ones. If he were to tell her they were all dead, would she be sympathetic? Sad? Would her heart melt for his pain?

It's hard to say.

"Thank you," he voices, his breath a pale, misty smoke. "For helping me get home that time." He'd always wanted to say it, and now that she's here, so alive, so present, Sasuke refuses to miss the opportunity.

The blackness of her hair seems to consume her as she finally, after some deliberation, approaches. His stomach muscles clench in anticipation, a nervousness he hadn't felt in many winters tickling its way from his arms down to his fingertips.

It wasn't fear.

It wasn't cold.

What was it?

"_I merely left you within the vicinity of your hearth_," she murmurs, ducking her head.

It's such a demure human reaction Sasuke stops breathing.

"_It was the farthest I could carry you._"

"But I'm alive, thanks to you," Sasuke restates. "I don't know why you did it, why you bothered to let me go when you could've devoured me. I've wondered all these years." He looked away for a moment, a gloved hand covering his trembling lips. "If I ask why, will you tell me?"

Maybe she expected something else from this encounter, or maybe she expected nothing at all. Her response is to blink, hands at her sides. "_Why_..?"

He nods, grateful for the moonlight that casts her in light. "Why did you let me go?"

Winter turns wistful, a faraway look glassing her peculiar gaze. "_Perhaps...because when I approached, you didn't run. When I spoke, you replied. You didn't scream, you didn't curse me. When I told you to return home, you questioned your worthiness of it. Once, there was a time in which I, also, questioned my worth. I, like you, had ran away from my home in the heavens. I wanted you...to return. You were a beautiful child, Sasuke. Your eyes were large and strong, your skin fair, your hair dark. I didn't...want you to perish. I was hungry and tired, but...I wanted to see you grow up. I was curious about the man...you'd one day become._"

The longer she speaks, the wider his eyes get.

He's unsure what surprises him the most. Her honesty? Her praise? Her ability to rend him speechless as no one has ever done?

But one thing bothers him and has ever since he woke up back in his room. "If you wanted to see me grow, why...why did you disappear?"

_Where did you go?_ Was it somewhere he couldn't follow? If her desire was to see what kind of person he'd be as an adult, she'd taken far too long to return.

Winter closes her eyes and sighs, pieces of icy stardust coating her hair. "_I've told you, haven't I? I was hungry and tired...Creatures like me tend to feed in order to live. But I'd grown weary of this form, of this life, of the cold. Stealing the life force of so many was always a difficult, murderous act I never wanted to commit. Disguising myself as a human was an option, but it'd been too long and I'd forgotten how to be one. When I encountered you on the woodlands that night, I was on my way to the warmer valley below. Hoping to melt. Hoping to disappear by Springtime. But you,_" her lips quiver, her eyes open, and unprecedented tears coat her lashes with ice, "_you were a curious, young thing. I wanted to see you again. I didn't want to melt anymore. So after I left you, I slept,_" she concluded. "_I've been asleep in the mountaintop, all of this time. Did you...did you look for me?_"

Yes.

Yes, he had. He wants to tell her that, and many other things along with it, but his throat is constricted and his tongue heavy. How to conjure all the words he wishes to relay to her? He finds the feat impossible.

But then, a doubt demands his attention. If she's been asleep all this time...when was the last time she fed?

When he manages to ask, her eyes lose some of her shine, her hands grip one another tightly. He wonders if she knows just how human her actions are, despite her denial.

When she admits her unsated hunger, Sasuke doesn't think about it twice.

He extends his arm, palm out, inviting. "Then come and have me. My life belongs to you. Do with it as you see fit."

**XXX**

**.**

In the quiet room, an older Sasuke sighs.

Finally, his six-year-old daughter has succumbed to sleep, despite the story not being over, as he knew she would. He rises from his seat and reaches for her covers. Tucking her in has become a habit he doesn't mind doing.

His fingers slowly brush raven-colored locks away from her closed eyes, "Goodnight, Tsukimi."

The girl fails to stir from her deep slumber.

Sasuke chuckles, amused and exasperated. His daughter reminds him very much of himself at that age, despite resembling her mother the most in appearance. Now he can somewhat understand why his own Father berated him, why Itachi laughed at him, and why his Mother loved him so much.

Looking at his child, at her small face, round cheeks, and stubborn chin, he can finally bear witness to the reasons why Winter granted him mercy all those years ago.

He must confess that the name 'Beautiful Moon' fits his daughter well.

Picking up the candlelight from the wooden nightstand, he exits the small, childish room decorated with endless colorful drawings, dolls, and archery bows, making his way down the hall.

When he opens the door to his bedroom, his wife isn't there. Frowning, for he is sure she went to bed earlier, he glances around, scanning for clues to direct him on where she might have gone.

Her sleeping gown isn't by the bed, but her slippers are. That's all he needs to know.

Sasuke heads down the stairs, his footsteps as nimble as they can be; his history as a warrior and hunter is extensive and has yet to end. Old habits like these die hard and come in handy at the best of times.

It's because he comprehends her own special habits that he finds her as quickly as he does.

She's sitting on the back porch, her feet bare, her shawl nowhere in sight, her hair as long as it can be. He can detect all of these details even after abandoning the candle back in the living room.

Uchiha Hinata -as she goes by now- looks up as he opens the door, her eyes brightening at the sight of him.

"You are supposed to be in bed," he says as a greeting, looking pointedly at her protruding stomach. "_Resting_."

His beloved Winter in human form laughs gently. "But the air feels really nice and the moon is full tonight."

Sasuke sighs. Typical of her to do this.

_Well_, he thinks, _it can't be helped_. She, despite everything, belongs to the cold and the night and the moon.

Although she looks human and claims she's grown tired of low temperatures, a part of her still gets seduced by the crisp snowy nights of the season.

He takes a seat beside her, exhaling white. "At least our daughter is doing what she's supposed to be doing," he states.

If he thought that would offend her, he's far from being right. "Hm. She must get that from you," she smiles at him, her lips painted pink. Sometimes, when she was distracted, they tended to return to the original shade of blue.

He snorts. "Of course. Her rebellious streak is because of you," he teases along.

She turns to face him all the way, attempting to suppress her mirth. "Now you're just being unreasonable. You've just spoiled Tsuki too much."

He shrugs, not denying it. "Well, she _is_ my heir," is his excuse.

Hinata- a name he can't get used to, despite her using it for the past seven years- shakes her head, tendrils of black hair soft against his straying fingers. "Please refrain from spoiling the twins once they're born. They'll be mischievous as it is," she warns, her own hands circling the underside of her large belly, where one of the unborn babies has just jammed her with a rather sharp elbow.

If carrying a baby seemed hard the first time, carrying twins looks absolutely exhausting, but Hinata is a headstrong being that refuses to stay in bed. Knowing that's a fight he won't win, he changes the subject.

"I'll go hunting next week," he informs her, checking his mental map of mountains and valleys he's already been on in past winters. "I think the area in Yakushima will have plenty of prey."

"Yakushima," she echoes, leaning on his shoulder to let his fingers tangle completely between her tresses. "We met again there seven years ago," she recalls softly.

"Yes," he affirms, his memories reawakened.

Back then, he'd been so ready for her to end him. If she had to consume his essence of life in order to survive, he was more than eager to comply and give it all.

But she'd said no, adamant in keeping him alive. Sasuke hadn't understood her reasoning until she was so weak she couldn't walk. It was then that he realized that just as he was willing to sacrifice his wellbeing for her, she was as equally prepared to do the same for him.

It wasn't until a creature of the night came lurking into their temporary camping site that he discovered that demons could be stripped of their life essence as well.

She'd looked powerful, deadly, and beautiful as she robbed the cursed creature from its life source, an act that she herself hadn't known she was capable of. The beasts of the night that had always looked at him as prey had become nothing but inanimate dolls in her hands.

If he thought he had wanted her as a woman before, he hadn't known desire and lust until that moment.

He had wanted her. He had wanted her so badly it hurt.

Having being detached from contact for centuries, Winter had returned his passion wholeheartedly, her embrace scaldingly cold, her kisses hungry, her body pressing and eager for his touch. Despite her glacial appearance, Winter could be warm in unexpected ways. Sasuke couldn't complain and hadn't.

He would take everything she gave him, be it mind, body or soul. In Winter's case, she had given him her all.

It took more than a week for them to finally leave the camping site. They'd spent too much time tangled between their own limbs and the bedsheets.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise that within a few months after the start of their sexual activities she would become pregnant, except that it was.

He hadn't thought that Winter could conceive, but he was wrong. After an arduous pregnancy, months of fending off monsters, and building a safe house, Sasuke made sure to be careful in their next encounters, as pleasurable as they were.

Her appetite had grown for the entire nine months, and thus hunting for demons to feed off soon became the norm. Now, in the second pregnancy, the fact that she carried twins only increased her needs, both for copulation and life force.

Taking his hands in her own, she stands, pulling him up with her. "You hunted three weeks ago. I will be fine for a month more," she mentions, thoughtful. "The winter lowers my hunger in this form." She smiles, squeezing his fingers. "Therefore, stay here with Tsuki and me."

He eyes her suspiciously, scrutinizing for signs of dishonesty.

But Winter- Hinata- is earnest.

"...If I think you need to feed, I won't let you stop me. I'll depart without hesitation. Is that understood?"

"Yes, yes," she agrees nimbly.

"Hmph, then fine. I'll wait."

Hinata hums. "Tsuki will be happy," she says cheerfully.

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "Will Tsukimi be the only one?" He tugs at her, directing her back inside.

Hinata follows without qualms. "Well," she murmurs, her tongue wetting her lower lip. "Is that what you think?"

"Am I wrong?"

They stop at the foot of the stairs.

"You are," Hinata confirms quietly, light violet eyes looking into his own. "I would miss you if you go. I would worry the second you step out of this house. You do so much for me and yet I want more. Tsuki...isn't the only person you've spoilt. If you were to stay by my side forever, I would gladly starve."

With shaking hands, she cups his face, her adoration and love and appreciation clear as water.

"You, Tsuki, and our future children are my happiness. I never once knew what that was, and if I did I must have forgotten. So yes, if you stay, Tsuki will be happy, and I will be happy, and our unborn twins will be happy."

Standing on the tips of her toes, she kisses him, her arms circling his neck as best as she can.

She is frightening at times, but short. He always has to make it easier for her to reach his mouth. This time is no exception. Picking her up, he levels their heights. Her legs circle his narrow waist easily, her lips leaving his for a second to place a chaste peck on his cheek.

"If it is as you've said-"

"It is."

"-then I have no choice but to stay, hm?"

She tightens her hold on him, her nose slightly brushing his own, mouth aligning with his. "That's right," she concedes.

"...Want to finish this in the bedroom?" he says in her ear.

Hinata chuckles, "Please."

Adjusting his hold, he carries her up the steps, her soft voice a whisper against his flesh, a promise she'll never break.

Down the hall, Tsukimi sleeps soundly, dreaming about the mysterious creature called Winter and her adventures with the lonely warrior that once thought he'd lost it all.

No matter how many times her Father and Mother retell it; for her, it feels neverending, for how can a story such as that one ever reach its conclusion?

Tsukimi, even in dreams, hopes for it to never end.

**XXX**

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**A/N:** Ahhh, I finally finished it.

**7.9.19**


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